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Thursday, December 21, 2017

BOOK SPOTLIGHT & REVIEW: Golden Gremlin: A Vigorous Push from Misanthropes and Geezers By Rod A Walters

Golden Gremlin: A Vigorous Push from Misanthropes and Geezers
By Rod A Walters
Genre: Nonfiction/Humor

The worlds really needs that push, vigorous or gentle, from misanthropes & geezers, the world’s most valuable golden gremlins. Misanthropes pretend to not like or need other people, but in reality they merely prefer their own company much of the time. Geezers, besides that silly name, also like their own company quite well. Both share the virtue of seeing the world calmly. Written to make Dave Barry, Lily Tomlin, and Ben Stein laugh, Golden Gremlin: A Vigorous Push from Misanthropes and Geezers delivers the wisdom of a calm life, and the wisdom to like most of it and laugh at the rest. Heck, Barry lives in Miami, habitat of geezers,  and Ben Stein is one. You get pointy bite-sized life pointers from experienced gremlins, told in easy bite-size chunks. Laughter included in the price!. Two out of three wouldn’t be bad either.

Life is good! So laugh a little at yourself on the way through these pointy essays, and that will buy your laughing at the world’s simpler parts, guilt free.






Gremlin comprises about 70 short essays bundled into six topic areas:

NATURE: boys, poop, and carbon footprinting

WORDS: the real meaning of Caucasian

KITCHENS: Dollar Store kale

BUSINESS: stakeholders -- through the heart

HISTORY: when Hell froze, and how Earth Day got born

Golden boy gets to be GOLDEN GREMLIN (the ultimate “Gotcha’ last!”)

What things could possibly be more important! 



My Review:

I love this book! I'll lead with that. This series of observational anecdotes are chock full of copious amounts of wit, charm, super-solid writing prowess, and, most importantly, much-needed rationale and a healthy slice of wisdom. Things sorely slipping in this society as we delve ever deeper into this technological abyss and away from once-normal human interaction. Under the surface of this light-hearted series of vignettes, there may lie another meaning. It seems we are sacrificing the profound and astute lessons our elders still have to impart, if only we were listening better. After my over half a century inhabiting this body, I feel that my own children often defer to the internet and empty webfriendships in lieu of connecting instead with those close to them. But I digress. This book is a touching memoir, fact and logic lesson, and funny and quick-paced monologue by one who's made it to the golden years, and lived to tell the tale. I will be seeking a printed copy of this fine book, and will be recommending it to my real life friends. The ones that exist beyond this screen. Five stars!



About the Author 


Rod Walters lives and writes in upstate New York, an excellent place where one can truly prove he can be an all-season writer. Since he wants everybody to be all-season persons no matter what her or his lifestyle looks like, his writing tends sharply toward the practical—without turning into one of those godawful do-it-perfectly-yourself (DIpY) authors. Life, after all, is practical moment by moment. Certainly described “old enough to know better, and he might actually be,” his former life as Army officer, engineer, and administrative assistant could not have been better arranged to write both light and heavier pieces pointing to creating a balanced life. Chuckling at yourself usually makes a good start. Then again, who the heck wants to live a balanced life? He suspects that just about everybody does. That’s why he now writes. Although many friends nudge and badger him to Facebook- and Twitter-it-up, he tries not to spend 15 hours a day with circular and brain-dimming keyboarding activity. His books work better.



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